Halloween

I think I love all holidays. I love any excuse to celebrate anything and change the daily routine. I particularly like Halloween because it involves dressing up, carving pumpkins, and eating chocolate. Unfortunately I can only say I did one of the three this year (that would be the chocolate, of course) but I still feel that I have sufficiently celebrated. Since Halloween is a Western holiday, it seemed Koreans only celebrated to the extent they like to participate in American pop culture, however, it was a fun opportunity to teach American culture at school. Festivities involved spooky decorations, black tablecloths, Halloween games, and, of course, candy. Some students wore costumes to school even though Korean children don’t go trick-or-treating. I had several witches, a princess, a Snow White, and a Peter Pan. At the shopping malls (which, confusingly, are called department stores) the stores put out candy and mannequins fashioned witches hats. Despite the appearance of decorations, Koreans didn’t embrace the true spirit and festive activities behind the holiday…which are obviously to test humanly limits of candy consumption. Halloween parties could be had in Itaewon, the international area of the city, but two days of being around excited kids left me feeling fully celebrated. And in true Halloween fashion, I have a bag of candy that will last me the next few weeks...but don't expect me to be eating any Reese's...can't find them here...